In the plumbing arts, plastic said pipes are now in widespread use. Particularly in new construction, the piping may be roughed in before the floor is prepared. In such cases the pipe extends above the final floor level, whether poured concrete or wooden, and need be cut off flush with the floor when the plumbing connections are to be made. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,480 issued Sept. 27, 1983, it is desirable to cut off such pipes flush with the floor for the connection of a water closet, for example. Thus, there is a need for a special tool that cuts the plastic pipe flush with the floor. In general, the plastic pipe may be cut off with conventional saw blades, but prior art saws are not constructed to be manipulated conveniently by hand in a mode that efficiently and effectively follows a floor contour to cut off a pipe or a stud, etc. flush adjacent the floor level.
The prior art has considered the problem of flush cutting with handsaws. Thus, in two U.S. Pat. Nos. namely 616,927 issued to E. J. Hicks on Jan. 3. 1899 and 627,615 issued June 27, 1899, a saw handle is laterally offset on one side of the saw blade with enough clearance to afford the necessary room for a hand grasping the handle to manipulate the saw when it is close to walls. An alternative construction for off-setting the saw handle is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 1,277,131 to M. Ruth, of Aug. 27, 1918 which provides a pintle and clamp to pivot the handle selectively from the plane of the blade to an angle of 90 degrees to the saw blade, thereby attaining the offset handle feature obtained by the Hicks patents.
However, as any craftsman familiar with a handsaw knows, a clean straight cut is only feasible with a natural rhythmic non-forced cutting action. A carpenter, or the like, who is to do the flush cutting thereby need manipulate the saw blade in a conventional manner that retains the rhythmic cutting action for obtaining a clean straight cut. This is particularly desirable in the plumbing arts for plastic pipe that may need be fitted to other close fitting plastic piping by solvent welding techniques. These prior art handles laterally offset parallel to the saw blade cannot be used with a natural sawing rhythm learned long before by a craftsman to cut off a pipe or stud flush with a floor surface, because of the awkward hand position and the floor level action site. Thus, it is not usually feasible with these prior art saws to get a clean straight cut flush to a floor surface.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a special saw blade handle construction permitting a skilled craftsman familiar with sawing clean straight cuts to use the saw in his natural comfortable stance to cut off plastic pipes, or the like, extending from the surface of a floor.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be found throughout the following description, drawings and claims.